Method of siphoning fluid.



2 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

In ven tar:

Patented Mar. 28

R. W. DAVIES. METHOD 0F SIPHONING FLUID.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1910.

witnesses UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

ROWLAND W. DAVIES, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF SIPI-IONING FLUID.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 28, 1911.

Application filed May 14, 1910. Serial No. 561,434.

To a-ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RowLAND lV. DAvins, a resident of Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Methods of Siphoning Fluid; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

My invention relates to a method of siphoning water.

It is well known that a column of water can be raised by atmosphericpressure to a maximum height of about thirty-three and nine-tenths feettheoretically, but owing to mechanical imperfections the practical limitaverages about twenty-eight feet according to the geographical situationabove the sea level of the place in which it is performed. The object ofmy invention is to provide an easy, continuous and eicentmethQQl--QipllQIling..nvateriavhich wi increasatll@ miglia@fithaqlrnii.-..c-.11ati-s 01"- dinarily.. lifted. atmospheric pressurend through ameans which is cheap and simple in its construction and arrangement, aswell as such a means which will be automatic in its operation.

To these ends my invention consists, generally stated, in the novelmethod of siphoning water, as hereinafter more specifically set forthand described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

'Io enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains topractice my improved method of siphoning water, I will describe the samemore fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a side elevation ofv an apparatus for practicing my improved methodof siphoning water. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the aircompressing apparatus employed. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal central sectionof the devices employed in the short leg of the siphon. Fig. 4 is alongitudinal central section of another form of air compressingapparatus.

Like symbols of reference herein indicate like gures in each of thefigures of the drawings.

As illustrated in the drawings the apparatus for practicing my improvedmethod of siphoning water in which the siphon is shown at A in Fig. 1,and is provided with the usual vertical short or intake leg 1 and 55 theusual vertical long or discharge leg 2 which are connected together attheir tops by the curved upper end o r head portion 3. The open lowerend of the short leg 1 enters below the level of the water a to beraised, and such leg is divided above the water a into the two verticalportions or branches 1 which connect with the upper and lower portions1a and 1b of said leg by the inclined portions 1C at each end of saidbranches. lVithin the branches 1 are the lower check valves 4 and 5 andthe upper check valves 6 and 7, and such branches are connected togetherby a cylinder 8 between the same, which is positioned between the lowerand upper valves, and is connected to one of said branches by a coupling9 at one end of the same and to the other of said branches by a coupling10 at the other end of the same. A piston 11 within the cylinder 8 has apiston rod 12 connected thereto, which extends through the coupling 10and is connected to a piston 13 in a cylinder 14 of a compressed airengine 15. This engine 15 is supported on the side of the coupling 10 bya frame 16 and is provided with the usual supply ports 17 and 17 withinits cylinder 14, which lead to each end of the same from the valvechamber 18, while the usual exhaust port 19 is located centrally betweensuch ports and leads from the cylinder 14. An ordinary slide valve 20within the chamber 18 is adapted to control the ports 17, 17 and 19 bymeans of a rod 21 connected at one end to said valve, while the oppositeend of such rod is connected to a sliding block 22 on the frame 16, andsuch block has an opening 22 through the same, so that a weighted arm 23passes through said opening and is connected to the piston rod 12 by aslotted end 24 thereon. This arm 23 is also pivotally connected at 24 onthe frame 16 and is adapted to engage with the ends 22 on the block 22in forming the opening 22 therein.

Connected to the lower end of the long leg 2 is the air compressingdevice 25, which is provided with two cylinders 26 and 27 and separatedfrom each other by a central dividing wall 28. Tithin the cylinders 26and 27 are the pistons 26 and 27, which are con nected with each otherby a pisto-n rod 29, and one end of said rod extends through thecylinder 26 and is provided with a tube 29 slidably mounted on said rodat its outer end, which tube has a slot 29 on each side of the same forthe reception of a pin 30 mounted on said rod. Pins 31 and 31 aremounted on and extend out from the tube 29 and are adapted to engagewith an arm 33 pivoted by the shaft 34 on a bracket 32 extending outfrom the head of the cylinder 26.

At the lower portion of the device 25 is the valve-box 35, which isprovided with a slide valve 36 therein for controlling the waterpassage-ways 37 and 38 leading from each end of the cylinders 26 and 27and communicating with said box. Between the passage-ways 37 and 38 andlocated centrally between the cylinders 26 and 27 is the port 39 forcommunicating with the long leg 2, and an escape or exhaust pipe 40leads from the box 35 to any point desired. Air ports 41 and 42 leadfrom the valve-box 43 at the top of the device 25 and connect with thecylinders 26 and 27 adjacent to the central wall 28, and an intake port44 is located in said wall and communicates with the cylinders 26 and 27at intervals. A valve 45 is located within the box 43 for controllingthe ports 41, 42 and 44 and has a rod 46 connected to the same andpivotally connected to one end of a lever 47, which is pivotallyconnected to the shaft 34 and to a rod 48 at its other end, such rod 48being connected to the valve 36 in the box 35. A weighted arm 49 ispivoted to the shaft 34 in the bracket 32, which arm has a weight 50 atone end and its other end is connected to the lever 47 througha slot 51in the same fitting around a pin 52 on said lever. An air pipe 53connects with the valve box 43 and with the chamber 18 of the engine 15,and if desired an escape valve 54 is placed above said chamber in thepipe 53 to provide for an overpressure of air in said pipe from thecompressing device 25. A chamber 55 is connected to the valve box 43, bya pipe (not shown) and said valve box contains a float 56 having aplunger 57 connected thereto which engages with a pipe 58 for drainingthe valve box 43 of any water which might accumulate therein.

The use and ogeration of my improved method of siphoning water ascarried out by the apparatus shown is as, follows-Vith the parts inposition, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the lower end portion 1b of theshort leg 1 of the siphon A is inserted into and below the level of thewater or other liquid a to be lifted or siphoned, and the legs 1 and 2and portion 3 of such siphon are then filled with water or other liquidby means of a hand pump or other suitable mechanism, so that the weightof such water in the -discharge leg 2 and within the port 37 in thedevice 25 will bear against'the outer face of the piston 26 in thecylinder 26, which will cause said piston to move toward the wall 28 andthereby compressing the air in such cylinder, while such air passesthrough the port 41 and valve-box 43 on said device and into the airpipe 53. Just before the piston 26 has reached the end of its stroke,the pin 30 on the piston rod 29 will have traveled along the tube 29 andwill strike against the inner end of the slots 29" in said tube, so asto draw said tube with the rod 29 for the remainder of the stroke ofsaid piston, which will cause the arm 49, through the means of the arm33 connected thereto and the pin 31, to be thrown outward and to aposition opposite from that shown in Fig. 2. As soon as the arm 49assumes such position, the pin 52 on the arm 47 will be at the outer endof the slot 51 in said arm 49, and at the same time the valves 36 and 45will be reversed thereby to the opposite position from that shown inFig. 2, through the rods 46 and 48 connecting said arm 47 and saidvalves, so that such valves will open the port 37 to the discharge leg40 and port 41 to the exhaust port 44 by being drawn over the same andopen the ports 38 to the pressure and 42 to the chamber 43. These valves36 and 45 being in this position the fluid will pass through thepassageway 38 and will bear against the outer face of the piston 27 atthe outer end of the cylinder 27 in the device 25, which piston isconnected to the piston 26 in the cylinder 26 by means of the piston rod29, and such piston 27 is thereby caused to move toward the central wall28 between said cylinders to compress the air in the cylinder 27, sothat such compressed air passes through the port 42 and valve-box 43into the pipe 53, while at the same time the fluid which has been usedin the cylinder 26 to compress the air in said cylinder is expelledtherefrom by the piston 26 moving outward thereby so that such fluidwill pass through the passage-way 37 and valve-box 35 and be dischargedfrom said box through the pipe 40. rlhe port 44 in the wall 28 of thepump 25 is always open to the atmosphere at the time the water is beingexpelled from either of the cylinders 26 and 27, and is closed to one ofsaid cylinders while the water from the discharge leg 2 is compressingthe air in the other of said cylinders.

The com ressed air inwthempipepasses through t e sanitt'lie valvechamber 18 and through the passage-way 17 against the piston 13 in thecylinder 14 of the device 15, which piston is connected to the piston 11in the cylinder 8 by the piston rod 12. The atmospheric pressure on thefluid a to be raised and into which the intake leg 1 is placed bearsupward through the check valve 4 and coupling 9 and against the outerface of the piston 11 in the cylinder 8, with a pressure equal to therelief afforded in the curved upper portion 3 of the legs 1 and 2, whichis created by the head of fluid in said discharge leg 2, and thecompressed air bearing upward through the pipe 53 from the pump 25 andagainst the piston 13, and

such pressure acts against the atmospheric resistance on the side of thepiston 13 to which the port 19 is open. rI hrough the movement of thepiston rod 12, as before described, the rocking arm 23 pivotallyconnected to the supporting frame 16 and the sliding block 22 will actto slide said block toward the couplinglO, the arm 23 striking the leftend 22 of the opening 22 in said block, which will allow the valve 2()in the valve-box 18 connected to said block to be reversed to close thepassage-Way 17 and open the passage-way 17, while at the same time suchposition of the valve 20 will allow the exhaust port 19 to be opened tothe cylinder lei on the inner side of the piston 13. The piston 13 isnow forced inward in the cylinder 11i by the compressed air from theport 17 bearing upon its outer face, as before described, and the piston11 through its connection to piston 13 by the piston rod 12, forces thefluid in cylinder 8 up through the coupling 9 and check valve 6, whilethe fluid a coming up through the check valve 5 and the coupling 10 witha pressure equal to the relief afforded in the curved portion 3 of thelegs 1 and 2, as before described, and such pressure bears againstpiston11 in the cylinder 8 and thereby aids in the expulsion of the fluid fromthe cylinder.

It will be apparent that since air is compressible and occupiesconsiderable less space when compressed than when in ordinaryatmospheric condition, that the piston 11 in the cylinder 8 must be of asufliciently greater cross-sectional area than the piston 13 in thecylinder 14, to provide for the compressing of the air in the cylinders26 and 27, for if such pistons Were of the same cross-sectional area theair in the cylinder 11 would have returned to its ordinary atmosphericcondition before the piston 13 has reached the end of its stroke. Thepistons 11 and 13 may, however, be of the same cross-sectional area byusing such a device 25 as is shown in Fig. 4L, in place of the device25, and such device 25 consists of having the ports 37, 38 and 39contained entirely in the one cylinder 59, while the ports 41, 4t2 andi/l are all entirely contained in the cylinder 60. In the operation ofthis device 25 the fluid enters through the port 37 from the port 39 andbears against the piston 59, while. the air at atmospheric pressure iscompressed by the piston 60 in the cylinder 60 through such piston beingconnected to piston 59 in the cylinder 59 by the piston rod 29, and theair thus compressed passes through the port 42 and into the pipe 53. Thevalves 36 and 45 are then reversed by the mechanism att-ached to theouter end of the piston 29, as hereinbefore described, and the fluidthen enters the port 38 and bears back of the piston 29, which is now atthe opposite end of the cylinder 59, as shown in Fig. i, while the airin the cylinder 6() is compressed by the cylinder 60, and passes throughthe port 41 and valvebox 43 into the pipe 53. The advantage of using thedevice 25 over the device 25, is on account of having the air and fluid,such as water, contained on opposite sides of the pistons 26 and 27, sothat such water forms a tight packing around the said pistons andthereby prevents the escape of air from one side of either of saidpistons into either of the cylinders 26 and 27, as both of saidcylinders will thus at all times have the water on one side of theirrespective pistons.

Various other modifications and changes in the practicing of my improvedmethod of siphoning water may be resorted to without departing from thespirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

It will thus be seen that my improved method of siphoning fluid will ina great many cases entirely eliminate the use of pumps and engines forraising water beyond the ordinary siphoning limit, and will obviate theusual serious difficulty encountered in ordinary siphon methods which isthe accumulation of air in the crown of the legs and causes the crown tobreak, While by the method employed herein the column of water is higherthan the ordinary atmospheric pressure will support.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. The herein described method of siphoning fluid to a greater heightthan that ordinarily supported by atmospheric pressure, which consistsin appl ing the energy derived from the flui`d^in the discharge leg tothe fluid to be raised.

2. The herein described metllodof siphoning fluid to a greater heightthan that ordinarily supported by atmospheric pressure, which consistsin applying the energy derived from the fluid in the discharge leg forcompressing air, and then applying such air to the fluid to be raised.

In testimony whereof, I, the said RowLAND 7. Dif-wins, have hereunto setmy hand.

ROVVLAND WV. DAVIES.

IVitnesses:

T. B. I-IUMr-Imns, JAMES L. WEI-1N.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

